Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-03-24
The Iinuor Tag Hulnbug.

| TO the Voters of Michigan:
SO much is said aboat the r"Ncnllc piWluceu Dy
the liuuor tax II IL time To present some facts
The liquor tax law was passed in 1910. It's pas
sage was strongly advocated by the Detroit "
quor league In 1876 The Public Leader, OF De
troit organ OF the liquor dealers, declared the
liquor trade had secured its Adoption
1t is in no sense a temperance measure, or teln-
peIance law. and the only merits that can he
Claimed for ii are its regulating features aiidEhe
revenue IL PRODUCES:
close at ten O'Clock mt night but everyone Knows
they do not. They are required 10 close On hol-
days, Sundays and election days llilt they - NOT
In Detroit the saloon keepers impndently an
nOunce through the newspapers, tllt tney III
tend to close on the next election day so us 70
work all day ut the polls against the aneldnent ::
thus virtually admitting IL Is their lahtnal Gus
tom 60 violate the law on other election DAYS:
They are forbidden TO sell to minors, but boys OF
sixteen can readily obtain liquor, even on sun
day. The law, then, does not regulate,
The tax produces some revenue, but Il 1t is OF
any yalue other taxes ought to be less than De-
fore. Has il decreased other taxation; Before
1876 liuuor taxation was unknown in -!his state.
In 1915 the state levied tax OF Sj2l, 20 IN lSto
your state taxes had jumped to 81 ,l5JDl6 ana IN
1885 after enjoying the revenue for ten years
your state taxes had increased a. - G55,26l, f,
three times rs much as they were Wlthou H.
The rumscllers boast they pay million year
of your taxes, but of what hcneit when your
state taxes are still million dollars year more
than they were IN 1870
Why do taxes increase? Because e cry session
OF the legislature since the tax law p;'S adopted
has had To provide a new state mstltn ION fOr the
care of the wrecks OF the rum traffic You nave
built new prison at lOnia, ncT insane asylum
at Traverse CITY, a reform school III A,lidn, an
insane asylum at lonia,-thc fourth iG the state
a new prison at Marquettc-the thiNi ~ the state
and the legislature is now considering project
for an asylum for idiots. Every tax payer can
Judge for himself what portion Of these expenses
are caused by the liquor traffic. But what por-
ton is paid by the liquor taN money?
NOT \ CENT. Not Il dollar Of the liquor tax
money goes into the State Treasury.
The effect of the liquor trd!iic Oh county taxes
Is worse than on state taxes. EycIy grreSt by q
sheriff, constable or Policeman Is l,@l Ter by the
county. All the expense of CrimAr J eases Is
borne by the county. And the p00t Become q
county charge.
How much Of this expense is cIHcd by the
liquor traffic? Judge for yourselves Bat how
much Is paid by the liquor tax money;
NOT CENT Not a dollar of the liquor tax
money goes into the county iund.
The state law gives the liquor tly 90 the city
or incorporated village in which ihI saloon is
township. The effect of the law has been 10
greatly Increase the number of Incorporated
villages. There were. i'm June, 1854. forty-eght
of these in the state with less than 900 inhabi-
tants each, some OF them having little more than
100. Let saloon locate on a cross road and
Straightway the neighhOrS draw an imaginary
line about II and become Incorporated All out
siders are thus feuced out from the benefits OF
the whisky tax. The great farming community
receives not cent. The following diagram viii
Illustrate, roughly, the manner Of gObbliug mp
the tax. The large square rcplcacntia township
and the small one, the village: